What a cute Yoda!

And the Word is...

I spend a considerable amount of time at the beginning of each year deciding on my personal goals. The goals, themselves, seem to evolve each year as I get old wiser and more mature. I remember picking "Get Organized" one year and realize now how impossible it was to reach. I still dream of the day I will "Get Organized" but my ambitions are a little more realistic.


I've noticed the trend in the blogging world is to have a 'word of the year'. I'm not trendy but the thought of a word for the year has trickled through my mind since I was first introduced to the idea. I consider determination, strength, bravery, peaceful, none seemed right. I Run for Life, the song by Melissa Etheridge, started playing during my run today and I listened to the words, really listened. The chorus goes:

I run for hope
I run to feel
I run for the truth
For all that is real
I run for your mother your sister your wife
I run for you and me my friend:| I run for life

I frequently chose the Susan G. Komen Organization in my Charity Miles app and I proudly run in their events. Hope, Truth, Life, To Feel... yes positive words. As I ran, I thought about the list of goals I had set for myself, 14 for 2014, and the same theme flows through the entire list. Positivity. My word for the year is Positivity.

I want to be more positive with and towards people, I want to make positive changes in my life and in others lives. I want to make the most of each day, enjoying each moment.

Home Binder

This week I am only working one night due to a change in scheduling (yelling yippee quietly so my boss doesn't hear me) and so I can actually have a fairly normal, normal for me, schedule. I wanted to clarify some things about my planner; a discussion with my daughter made me realize that some things should not be assumed!

As I have previously said, I use a calendar for appointments, scheduled tasks, errands (vet visits, etc) and my work schedule. Anything else that has a specific time and/or day goes in the calendar. I use the weekly pages to list tasks from my running master list that I think I can accomplish, errands, I will jot notes, list the steps I want to complete in my ongoing projects, etc.

I use my planner for planning, my business plans, my master lists, my blog ideas, etc as we discussed in the previous post. I know people who list their household chores, which room to clean on which day, what closet to organize, when to do laundry. When I was a young mom, I did that too. Now I clean when its dirty, launder when I need clothes, I no longer need those lists! HA! Something to be said for getting old, haha. I don't want to clog up my planner with that kind of stuff nor do I want to carry around my meal plans for the week, nor do I want to carry around the passwords for everything! If I'm going to call the vet, I do it from home, no need to carry extra stuff in my planner. (I will jot the need to call and then the date of an appt in my super duper planner though!) So where do all those home things go?

My Home Binder!

The binder lives in a kitchen cabinet with the binder of recipes I use on a very regular basis, especially the ones from Pinterest that are a hit!

 

I do my menu plans in the binder, I have 6 pages of plans so if I'm not feeling creative (which is more often than not), I can pull a prior plan!

The binder has pocket pages, one of which I stuff file the recipes I need for the week.

 



I also keep a business card page that I keep all my certification cards (I loved the look of pleasure when I handed the whole page over to the HR person when I got hired at my job here. No scrambling and digging through a wallet for this chick!). I have a list of passwords and user names for important web sites. These are for not only me and my memory problems but for whomever might need them for whatever reason and my daughter knows where the list is!

A new year, new goals, new ideas

I am full of excitement for the new year even if I barely crawled to the end of last year. 2013 was filled with exciting changes, wonderful accomplishments, and as per the norm, some difficult times! I am facing 2014 with new ideas, new plans in place, and high hopes that I am more organized, more productive, and more in line with what I want and need in my life.

First a confession, I almost didn't have Christmas. The day would have arrived and my children, husband, and grandchildren would have found nothing, nada, zilch under the tree. I failed to plan and you know that cliche, when you fail to plan, plan on failing. I somehow let Christmas sneak up on me and when Thanksgiving rolled around I couldn't believe it! I sat down with the calendar and realized that between work (two jobs),  flights, and sleep I had a total of three whole days to prepare for Christmas.  I made a master to do list, vowed to not waste a single second, and hubby and I got busy tackling the master plan I plotted out. We rocked it! We shopped, we crafted, we wrapped, we stuffed stockings, we sewed, we routered, we packed, and we shipped. Every package was delivered safely to the doors of our children and their families not only on time, but early! We got our outside orders done and shipped, we had Christmas for each other. And after that panic, I vowed never again!

I am a list maker, a planner but I am also terrible at time management and another confession, I have trouble following through with the best laid plans! I start each year with a goal to be better organized and a new planner and by April...well, the same thing every year.  Planners seem to be designed with a cookie cutter person in mind. The mother of young children, the 9-5'er, the office worker, the soccer mom. I am none of the above. I don't work a regular schedule, I have an outside business, I also am writing a novel (or two or seven), I am a blogger, and I am a runner. I don't need a calendar, I love the one I have, but it doesn't work as a planner for me.

I use my calendar as, umm, a calendar and it works! HA!

 

 And the this entered my life. Its the ARC system that I bought at Staples. I have finally found a planner that will work for me because it was designed by me for MY lifestyle.

 

 

The planner is totally customizable and I can make it fit me instead of a cookie cutter person! As you can see, I have divider tabs that I created and some other tabs within some sections.



 Sorry for the side ways pictures, I'm not sure why they don't post like they are saved! Anyway, back to my super duper planner. I have a clear pocket that holds some tabs and my favorite pen. I also have a set of post its that clip right onto the discs.

The first page is my dashboard. A place to brain dump, jot a quick note to myself. I like it, not everything fits in a section so it goes here. If I find something consistently gets placed on this page, I'll add a divider, this can so grow with me and I can tweak it as I need to!

The master to do list. It's a running list, I cross off and high light as I complete something and it makes the undone more visible to me. As I review my plan for the upcoming week, I can move tasks to my weekly section as I see fit. I have monthly section, a calendar just so I know when I work or have plans so I can plot my business tasks or training around work.







I made a list of 14 goals for the year. All very general in nature because I will have a more step oriented page for each goal as needed. This next picture is a list of races I want to do in the next few months and a current list will allow me to register when the cost is lowest and to schedule my work without problems.

Then we have my blog section, one section, two tabs. One for this blog, one for my running/health blog.

I'm excited to have a plan in place for the year. I will update as I go along. What works, what doesn't. I feel confident my new super duper planner will help me achieve the goals I set forth for myself this year!

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yowza

And what will these become? I have a few ideas twirling around in my head!

 

I'm addicted to making finger puppets!

 

And the winner is...

Well, the winner isn't announced yet! But he/she will be this evening. Mark, my darling husband, had created a Facebook page for Nana's Toy Box who knows when and I discovered it quite back accident this past week. Lord know I don't need one more thing to take up my time but at least I can rationalize Facebook time if it's on my business page! So we set to build it. Build it and they will come or so the saying goes. We decided to have a give away when we hit 100 followers and we have. Since Labor Day means the beginning of fall for me and fall screams Halloween, I crafted this cute little finger puppet set as our first give away. The winner will be announced this evening so you still have time to click like on our page!



Introducing Miss Ellie

Please let me introduce you to Miss Ellie. She is named after a special real life doll that my friend recently had. The "real" Ellie was born at approximately 27 weeks and weighed in at 2lb 10 oz. She is in the hands of very good people (that would be NICU nurses!) and is really growing! She is an absolute beauty and while she may be tiny, she has made a big impact on my heart!

My Miss Ellie is the perfect first baby for any little one. Soft and cuddle but firm enough to hold up under all those hugs and snuggles. Her face is embroidered so safety is not an issue!

Birthdays

Grand daughter Sophie recently had a Lego themed birthday and as per our norm, my daughter and I created just about everything for the party. Since we couldn't decide on which cake, we made two, the Lego man and Lego blocks. Sophie and her sister, Ayla, and I made Lego block favor bags to hold the candy we made, the cookies I made, and s few assorted things we picked up a long the way! Everyone had a great time!

Some Lego Cookies

 

Back in April we threw a Zombie birthday party for Ayla. Now that was fun! Complete with brain Jello, brain candy and ice cubes, and of course zombie cookies!

Red Velvet, of course! The brain was made of pink chocolate and set into the head

Tabetha Sculpting the hand out of rice crispy treats

Zombie cookies, of course

My son in law, Jeremy, dressed up as a zombie and let the kids defeat him with water balloons!

 

 

 



Max is Coming Along

Max should be folding clothes instead of hiding in the basket. Now where is that pesky bone?

Love the button door knob that doubles as the bottom of the question mark!

A Pinterest Winner

I have thoroughly enjoyed cooking new dishes since I'm not working full time. And I am addicted to Pinterest! A great combination. I have had some failures but for the most part, I can determine what we'll like in advance so we have more successes than failures. Tonight was no different. I have to admit, I felt my arteries hardening just cooking this dish. Titled, Chicken bacon ham asparagus cheddar Parmesan pasta, it really doesn't need the chicken. It also had a roma tomato tossed in at the end so I'm not sure why that isn't in the title as well! HA! I cooked my bacon in the oven (with enough left over to add to breakfast muffins) and them instead of frying the asparagus, I baked it on the bacon grease covered cookie sheet for 4-5 minutes, I wanted it still crunchy so watch it closely if you do the same. I also didn't use cheddar and parmesan, although I did have it in the fridge, I used the end of my Mexican blend shredded cheese, about half a bag. Cheese is cheese, I love it all! My loving husband said it was "a keeper", so it is. I have enough for a left over night, I'll let you know how it does on day two!

More Max!

I love to hide under the covers, apparently Max does too!

 

I'm having too much fun making this quiet book. Maybe its because Max is so cute. I think some will show up in the store just in time for Christmas

Now where did that silly dog hide his bone?

 

A new interest

This is Max

 

Max will be the main character in a quiet book. Seeing all the beautiful quiet books on Pinterest has inspired me to try one out. I sure do have enough little ones in my life for whom to make one. I'd love a quiet book section in Nana's Toy Box too! 

 

Checking in

It's been awhile due to some life changes. All positive, I will say. But I have been working on my time management skills and so my lack of posting will decrease, I hope. Just a picture today. A donation of an outfit for a preschool auction.

May 2012

What a boring title but since this post will cover my May highlights, it seemed appropriate! The biggest event in May, of course, was the birth of grand daughter #3. Proud parents, Jacqueline and JR (pronounced J R) gave birth to Eva Michele on May 14th. The happens to be Mark and my anniversary as well as Adrian and Brian's anniversary (happy one year, my darling daughter and SIL!). We are fortunate that Miss Eva lives within an hour drive and I get to smother her with Nana love at least once a week! Welcome to the world, Miss Eva! I spent a lot of time sewing, had a run on what I refer to as Hooter Hiders and so a day or two were committed to those. Tweaked and perfected, thanks to another new mom I gifted with some. Her input was invaluable! Thanks, Marsha. I needed something cute and fun after a stressful week at work so this kitty came to life. Ayla, my princess, immediately claimed it via facetime and Sophie, my little fairy, promptly put in an order for a black kitty she could call her own. Completed! I knit 5 baby sweaters since January and with each one, I saw improvement in my stitches. I love having something on the needles and am currently outfitting a Waldorf doll not even made yet but she is dancing around in my head. Miss Eva's sweater! A friend requested a "tan hat with monkey ears on the side" for his new daughter, Presley, so I completed that too! I was a lot more productive than I thought I was!! I'm currently working on some Waldorf Style Knotted dolls for the babies in my life and hope to get them done when my work stretch is completed on Wednesday! I have one body cut and sewn, velour laid out for the other two. Just enough in my stash for three "baby's first baby's". I might squeak out a fourth to put in the shop too!

We all have a dream apparently!

Modern Parebts Nessy Kids posted this one her blog.

I've been trying to figure out how to write this without sounding ridiculous. What I want to say is this: I finally did it you guys, I completely and totally organized my life! It took a lot of hard work and a lot of late nights but I now have a plan, routine, or system for everything. •I've compiled and categorized enough healthy, inexpensive and easy recipes that I have a 90 day dinner menu (complete with theme nights like pasta Monday and slow-coooker Thursday) and I have the grocery lists to match. •There is nothing in my house that we don't use. I've ferociously weeded out the clutter and sent it packing via Craig's List or Goodwill. •Everything I didn't get rid of is now beautifully organized into colorfully labeled containers. If you're ever visiting and you need something, just ask me - I totally know where it all is. •I now have a weekly schedule with time carved out for blogging, housework, play dates, park time, library time, and other activities we've been wanting to try but never got around to. •For those days we stay home, we've got a dependable routine that the kids can rely on. It includes stuff like art time, outside time, story time and bath time. •Remember when I told you C isn't really down with napping anymore and I was worried about ever getting anything done again? I completely solved that problem by putting together some genius quiet time kits (one for each day of the week so he doesn't get bored). They're crammed with busy bags, DIY audio books, and learning activities he can do independently. •I finally got our budget down to a science using a combination of the cash envelope system and mint.com. We're saving tons! (and while I was at it I updated our wills, life insurance, and retirement planning). •Thanks to evernote and some other handy apps, I will never again miss an appointment or birthday. (If something does somehow sneak by me, I have a birthday closet with pre-bought gifts and cards - thanks to the new budget and organization I now have the space and money for it.) •I also joined a gym and started exercising regularly (part of the new weekly schedule). The kids love playing at the drop off center while I'm burning calories. •I went through all 2,000 of my digital photos, edited them, imported them to yearly photobooks and backed them all up online. I've also caught up on my personal blog and am regularly contributing to it. •Last but not least, the hubs and I have a set-in-stone date night that we never miss and we've recently instituted family game night. Seriously, it's been a long time coming but today I stood in the middle of my living room, looked around the house and admired what I've accomplished with a huge goofy grin on my face. And then I woke up. DAMN. IT. Sounds good though, doesn't it? I should probably get on that. P.S. The top photo is from Martha. I bet she doesn't have cruel dreams like that - since she really is that organized. Also, I hear she doesn't actually sleep.

and I was so jealous...until I read on til the end and saw it was her dream as well. I'm determined, have added almost all of her items on *my* list to accomplish this year. I'm am making progress, one cabinet, one room, one task at a time. 2012 WILL be my year of becoming organized!

Agood start!

Craft Room Redo

I'm so embarressed to show the picture of what my craft room looked like "before". I'm one lucky girl, one who has a husband who not only encourages my creative pursuits, but one whose husband provides space for them. I am lucky because I have not only a kick ass sewing center that he created, but I have a separate craft room for the "rest of my stuff". I love paper and polymer clay and while I play with neither as much as I do fabric, I have quite a collection of both. Add their numerous accessories and I needed a separate space. In my defense, the craft room is our only non-public room and thus became a catch all space. Yanno, the empty boxes we might need to ship stuff in...someday, spare furniture, and anything else that needs to be hidden or put away...someday. Because the room became so stuffed with stuff, I couldn't and wouldn't craft in there, so I would stumble over things, grab what I needed, and then craft in my sewing center. I would box up the craft supplies, open the craft room door, and kinda slide it in so I didn't have to see the disaster. This is the end result!

Disgusting, huh? Well, I got a hair up my ass Saturday and said to myself, "Self, 2012 is your year of becoming organized and you look at this mess day after day". Self shook her head and replied, "today is the day!". Mark was at a class and I downed several cups of coffee, pulled courage from deep within my soul and into the abyss I went. I have to admit, it was like Christmas morning, finding all kinds of cool stuff I forgot I had. I also wondered simple things like why I had a giant basket of styrofoam balls of every size, or what the hell was I making that I needed a plasic pear? One of the promises I made to myself, and my husband, was for every new hobby I started, I would get rid of one. The time had come. I got rid of ten year old bottles of paint, so therefore, I might as well get rid of the painting things, yanno, wooden sleds, wooden boats, wooden oars that I saw and bought with the idea that I would paint them...someday. I hate that word now. Someday is now, I've seen too many people put off for someday and never get to travel or accomplish their goals. Not me, I tell you, my someday is now, today! I hunted out a big empty box, I sure had enough of them, they were the first things I cleared out of the room and what a remarkable difference it made. I started purging, purging, purging. I emptied container after container, drawer after drawer. Another box pulled out and filled. I have one small container of misc craft supplies and everything else is stored and labeled. I only had one "oh but I love this, I hate to get rid of it, it's so cute moment. A set of teeny tiny clay flower pots, and I kept them! Yep, I kept them. But wow, 5 garbage bags of trash, two giant boxes of donations, three boxes to mail goodies to friends and family and I sat in the middle of my room, dirty, tired, and hungry. But oh, so satisfied. Mark came home from class, stood in the doorway stunned. Wow, was all he could say. Then, as per his usual wonderful loving and giving spirit, he suggested we make an ikea trip and buy some cubbies. He knows how I love my cubbies in my sewing center, smart man, that he is. So he measured, and made thinking noises, measured some more and then made some suggestions. We made the 45 minute trip to ikea, god, I love that place, and got what we needed. Mark constructed and I took a nap, LOL. I woke to beautiful cubbies waiting for me to finish organizing. and the result...

I'm in heaven

Gotta love it!

Mark even moved a floor lamp into my room and I spent a considerable amount of time carefully stowing and labeling. During my ruthless purge, I found some magazine clippings I had stashed away. Pictures of my dream craft/sewing room. I waved them in front of Mark and said, this was my dream room. The love of my life tossed the pictures in the trash and said, now you have your dream room and it's so much better than those pictures. God, I love that man!

Catching Up

I was going to do a post to catch up and decided to only include a few major events and then move on to the present! I deckared the year 2012 The Year of Organization, in both my personal and professional life! I work hard, I play hard and now realize that I need to actually schedule my life accordingly. That thought makes me feel old and boring, but hey, if it means accomplishing what I need and want to do, so be it! The big even last year was the wedding of my youngest daughter, Adrian, to a wonderful man. The wedding was a big affair and I pinched pennies for a year to give her the wedding she wanted. Success, if I do say so myself!

Wasn't she a beautiful bride?

A handsome couple if I ever saw one! My mom was diagnosed with cancer before the wedding and struggled to live long enough to see Adrain get married. She died a few short months later. RIP, Mom... We spent a considerable amount of time in Denver, watching our beautiful grand daughters grow up and fall more in love with their little girl personalities everytime we see them. Recently, we celebrated Ayla's 7th birthday and went all out, as usual, with an Angry Bird Party. Tabetha and I laugh hysterically every year making cakes for the two and this year was no different. The end result was perfect, in our most humble opinions, anyway, LOL

Party was complete with giat slingshot to knock down the walls hiding those pesky pigs, a pinata, and my fun loving son in law finished the day with the kids shooting soda rockets high into the air.

I have been slowly but surely organizing my house. Purging, cleaning, and consolidating. Our nex move is a short year away and I need to pare down. My loving husband has made me the sewing center of my dreams and I know this has added unneeded weight to our belongings so I will continue to purge and bring our household weight down to a manageable amount. But, oh my, isn't this worth it?

Yep, yep. Better and more pictures to follow! I will close for now with the promise to update frequently.